CRIMINALITY IS A UNIVERSAL PHENOMENON, AND RESEARCH IN THE FIELD OF CRIMINOLOGY DEPENDS UPON A BASE OF QUANTITATIVE DATA SUPPLIED THROUGH COLLECTIVE STATISTICS. WITH INCREASED INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION IN THE FIELD OF CRIMINAL POLICY AND AN INTERNATIONALIZATION OF CRIMINOLOGY, THIS EMPIRICAL BASIS MUST BE EXCHANGED AMONG NATIONS. THE BOOK TRACES THE DEVELOPMENT OF INTERNATIONAL EXCHANGE EFFORTS FROM THEIR BEGINNINGS IN THE EARLY 19TH CENTURY UP UNTIL THE SECOND WORLD WAR AND FROM THAT TIME UNTIL THE EARLY 1970'S. EARLY ASSUMPTIONS REGARDING THE COLLECTION AND INTERPRETATION OF CRIMINAL STATISTICS FROM AN INTERNATIONAL VIEWPOINT AND THE GROWTH OF MANY NATIONS' CRIME RATES IN THE 19TH CENTURY, AN IMPORTANT FACTOR IN THE EXCHANGE AND COMPARISON OF CRIME DATA, ARE DISCUSSED. THE EFFORTS OF THE INTERNATIONAL STATISTICAL CONGRESS, WHICH FIRST MET IN 1853 TO DEVELOP UNIFORM STATISTICS WITHIN EUROPE, AND THE REASONS FOR ITS FAILURE ARE OUTLINED. THE WORK OF OTHER ORGANIZATIONS, SUCH AS THE INTERNATIONAL STATISTICAL INSTITUTE AND THE INTERNATIONAL CRIMINALISTICS UNION, THEIR GOALS, AND THEIR ATTEMPTS TO COORDINATE THEIR EFFORTS DURING THE PERIOD FROM 1887 TO THE BEGINNING OF WORLD WAR II ARE EXAMINED. INDEPENDENT EFFORTS IN THE U.S. TO DEVELOP A STANDARDIZED REPORTING SYSTEM AND THE BEGINNINGS OF THE UNIFORM CRIME REPORT ARE DESCRIBED. THE SITUATION AFTER THE SECOND WORLD WAR WAS MARKEDLY DIFFERENT FROM THAT BEFORE; INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS SUCH AS THE UNITED NATIONS AND THE INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL POLICE (INTERPOL) WERE FOUNDED, AND THEY TOO ATTEMPTED TO SOLVE THE PROBLEM. INTERPOL'S STATISTICS AND THE UNITED NATIONS' STANDARD CLASSIFICATION OF OFFENSES ARE CRITICALLY ANALYZED. THE FINAL SECTION SUMMARIZES THE PROBLEMS WHICH HAVE BEEN AND CONTINUE TO BE ENCOUNTERED IN THE INTERNATIONAL EFFORTS, (THOSE OF A STATISTICAL-TECHNICAL NATURE, AS WELL AS LEGAL PROBLEMS) AND THE QUESTIONS WHICH MUST BE ANSWERED IF FUTURE EFFORTS ARE TO BE SUCCESSFUL. REFERENCES AND A TOPICAL INDEX ARE PROVIDED. --IN GERMAN. (VDA)